Updates about Olive Tree Genealogy website and other FREE genealogy records. Bringing you tutorials, genealogy book and app reviews, genealogy news, genealogy specials and more. Helping you find your family tree and ancestors.

March 13, 2012

Case #13: A Californian's Wartime Experience: Hidden From the German Army

Henry Taylor

Nick wrote to Olive Tree Genealogy with a very intriguing challenge - help him find the family of a soldier who Nick's grandmother and grandfather hid from the German army during WW2.

Henry Taylor was a WW2 soldier who Nick's Italian grandparents hid from the Germans who had occupied the town they lived in. This was in or near Sulmona Italy.

Shortly after the war, Henry, who was in the British Army, settled in California.
He married but Nick does not know if Henry married in England or in the United States. Henry's wife's name was Gloria and he had two daughters. One was Susanne and
the other was named after Nick's aunt, Natalina.

Nick tells me that "My aunt remembers
when he came [from California] to my grandparent's house in Sulmona, Italy, one
day and in broken Italian he asked for my grandmother, and when
my aunt told him she had died, he was very upset. This would
have been in the early 1960's because my grandmother died in
March 1961 and my aunt emigrated to Australia in September 1965."

Henry made frequent visits from his home in California to
Italy to visit the woman who saved his life.

Letters and cards were
exchanged throughout the years but eventually sometime in the mid to late 1960s contact was lost.

On the right is the second page of a 2-page letter sent from Henry in California to Nick's aunt Natalina (Lina)

Henry's friend wrote the letter in Italian and the names of his family are shown in the signature - Enrico (this is Henry), Susanne and Gloria, his wife.

This is a good clue as the letter had to be written before 1965 when Lina left Italy to settle in Australia. And since Henry's daughter Natalina is not listed, we can assume she was born after 1965.

This is an inspirational story of two families united by bravery. Can you help Nick find Henry's daughters or grandchildren so that his family can once again unite with Henry's American one?

One further bit of information that might help us to find Henry, Nick tells me that the British
army gave Nick's grandmother and grandfather a certificate thanking them for their
help in looking after one of their soldiers. The certificate is
signed by H.R. Alexander, Field-Marshal, Supreme Allied
Commander, Mediterranean Theatre, and the date is shown as
1939-1945.

26 comments:

I realized my efforts in the post were based on my misreading who his daughter was named after. I misread it to be Harry's relative, not Nicks. So all my info was redundant. I have removed it so as not to confuse any others who may be trying to solve this mystery.

hi Jennifer and Lorineboy I had forgot I posted that note on the Usa War Brides site, looking at my email must have been over 15 years ago, so I'm impressed it's still there.The latest info I provided Lorine is the correct one, or at least as best as I can get from my aunt and letter, so we'll go with thatthanksnick

Okay, I think he may be Henry I Taylor, who came over on the Queen Mary 13 Aug 1946. He was single, and born in Cleckheaten, London. and last address in Barnet, England. If this is the correct chap, then he died in 1973 in Los Angeles.Name: Henry I TaylorSocial Security #: 565387739Sex: MaleBirth Date: 27 Jun 1909Birthplace: EnglandDeath Date: 25 Oct 1973Death Place: Los Angeles

I can't find anything on Susanne,or Gloria but there is/was a Natalina M Taylor (I'm sorry, that name is too rare) living with poss sibling Taylors in the past in Magalia, Paradise, Chico, California.I found what may be a granddaughter on Facebook and sent her a message with a link to this site. Maybe something will come of it. If I hear from her I will let you know.

g and r - I too found that same mention of Natalina M. Taylor with possible connections to Jana and Brent William Taylor. But it seems that a Jana and Brent Taylor are the children of a Taylor Motors auto dealer in Redding, California whose name is Howard Taylor, born in Arkansas in the 1930s. No mention in the article about Taylor Motors re a family member named Natalina, nor anything that seems to tie these Taylors to Henry. The Calif. birth indexes bring up no Natalina Taylors, either. But it is intriguing that the rare name of Natalina seems to have some kind of connection to Jana & Brent.

Could it be possible that he named the child Natalie instead of Natalina, or that the birth records might have done so? It would seem that someone that would translate his own name when corresponding to someone in Italy might translate his child's name when they were born.

thanks everyoneg and r - I also like your results, that sure sounds like the Henry we're looking for, is there a way to find the contact info in Magalia CA?I'd be willing to make that call.As for the name Natalina, that's my aunt's name, and she heard that Henry named his daughter after her, but the name may have morphed into an anglicized version.btw..my aunt in Australia was shown this blog from her son yesterday and she doesn't have enough words of thanks for everyone, especially when the anniversary of the death of her mom (my grandmother Anna) was yesterday March 14th.

I saw Henry I. Taylor also, but discounted him because it says on the manifest that he was a publicity film specialist. I don't know what Henry did before the war, nor do I know what he did during the war, so it's still a good possibility. BUt there are several other Henry Taylors listed as being born in England and having died in California, primarily the LA area.

There was one US City Directory listing for a Henry Taylor living with wife Gloria J in San Diego in the late 1950s (57 I think), but I was not successful tracking the two any further. That Henry was an electrician, but again I don't know what Henry was into occupationally speaking.

I know that we are working off of the supposition that Gloria was the wife, but in the case that she's not, there is a Gloria Taylor born in 1962 in Los Angeles to a mother named Bayless. I've not yet tracked down the mother to see if she is a Susanne or not.

I saw Henry I. Taylor also, but discounted him because it says on the manifest that he was a publicity film specialist. I don't know what Henry did before the war, nor do I know what he did during the war, so it's still a good possibility. BUt there are several other Henry Taylors listed as being born in England and having died in California, primarily the LA area.

There was one US City Directory listing for a Henry Taylor living with wife Gloria J in San Diego in the late 1950s (57 I think), but I was not successful tracking the two any further. That Henry was an electrician, but again I don't know what Henry was into occupationally speaking.

I know that we are working off of the supposition that Gloria was the wife, but in the case that she's not, there is a Gloria Taylor born in 1962 in Los Angeles to a mother named Bayless. I've not yet tracked down the mother to see if she is a Susanne or not.

Page two of the manifest says that Henry I works for Paramount Films Ltd and he is traveling with work associates. He lists his father as I Taylor living in Cleckheaton, Yorke. HE last visited NY in 1939 for 6 weeks, and his employer is out of New York.

Since the guy worked in the film industry, maybe he went to work in Hollywood, and it would make sense that he ended up in LA.

Nick gave me an overview of the Italian letter and my Italian friend translated the entire thing for me.

There was nothing in it other than the usual pleasantries such as how are you, sorry it's taken so long to respond, thanks for your Christmas and Easter cards, Gloria sends her best, are you still going to Austalia or are you thinking of coming here to USA (sadly no state mentioned!)

I should clarify that the letter was from Henry but written in Italian by his friend who translated Henry's name to Enrico, and that it was sent to Lina, the daughter of the couple who hid Henry from the Germans.

You guys are amazing, so much great sleuthing going on! I've heard from Nick again with an email from his aunt Lina (written in Italian) who is thrilled and overjoyed at the help being given to her to find Henry's family.

i have now.,..still doing my 2cents worth, but having no luck, as I presume no one else is either. I have 1 question, if the first on this page is from California, and only has Susanne's name, could something have happened to Natalina? Another thing, if they migrated in the 60's they probably flew so there won't be a passenger list. Voters lists may not help if they never became citizens. Also, it is mentioned that he visited them several times, would this have been before he immigrated to the US in the late 50's or 60's? And, I've still got that inkling that the Earlier entry re Magalia, CA is somehow connected.

I'm an incurable collector of
antiques, an avid genealogist and a messy but creative cook! I blog, i write history and genealogy books. My main genealogy website is Olive Tree Genealogy http://olivetreegenealogy.com/

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: Sometimes I receive compensation if you buy something from one of the companies that advertise on my blog. Some companies simply pay me for advertising space on my blog. I am not paid to write about products or services. Sometimes authors or publishers send me a book to review. I get to keep the book but I write an honest review. RootsTech paid for my registration at the 2011 Conference in exchange for me blogging and tweeting about it but they did not tell me what to say.